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Williamsburg Public Schools
Anne T. Dunphy Elementary
Helen E. James Elementary

Fred Venne, Principal 
1 Petticoat Hill 
Williamsburg, MA 01096  413-268-8421
Our Mission Statement
We wish to guide our children toward a lifelong love of learning for its own sake; toward an appreciation of the limitless power of knowledge; toward a vision of the future founded on lessons of the past; toward reverence for health of mind and body; toward dedication to principles of truth, friendship and justice in human affairs; and toward a desire to enjoy, to enhance and to preserve the beauty of the world in which their children will one day live.

What is distinctive about our school..........

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) instructional model- each child is addressed as an individual

Excellent Student:Teacher ratio
(Ave. Class size 16)

Technology integration leader

World Languages (Spanish and French)

Balanced Literacy approach to reading

Educating the Whole Child:

Social and Emotional Development Throughout the Curriculum

*Research supports a common sense understanding that children learn best in environments that are physically and emotionally safe. 

*Social skills and emotional growth are actively promoted throughout the school day by the structures and processes of the classroom and the school.  Learning is primarily experiential.  Class meeting, empowering the class to develop their own class rules, cooperative learning strategies and group problem solving are integrated into the classroom. 

*Recess problems, disruptive behavior, life events, classroom events and classroom group dynamics provide numerous "teachable moments".  Additional planned activities have included improvisational theater games, conflict resolution, group initiatives, team building and ROPES course adventures, gender equity exploration, and social justice issues.


Our Program
Math: Constructivist pedagogy coupled with practical tools enabling the development of each child's mathematical skills.  Numerous hands on activities and investigations are used to promote each child's development.
     
Science:
An inquiry based study of science utilizing a hands-on approach.

Language Arts:
Developmental Reading & Writing Assessments, Reading Recovery,  Accelerated Reader, and literature based integrated instruction are utilized to create a balanced whole language and phonetic approach to instruction.

Social Studies
Thematic History and Geography units drive  instruction.  Students explore cultures from local to international through integrated studies.


A Brief Profile & History of the
Town of Williamsburg
and the Village of Haydenville

While scenic Williamsburg is a quiet little town from which one may, summer or winter, step into the forests of the Berkshire Hills, it is the last stop on the Pioneer Valley bus system that connects the town to Northampton, Amherst and all the educational, cultural and market opportunities that the Five College Campus attracts to the Pioneer Valley. The population is founded of the rooted families that have descended the ladder from those agrarian settlers who had cleared the woods more than two hundred years ago, intermarried with the industrialists and immigrant mill workers who rode the tide of the industrial era up the river in the mid-nineteenth century. Salted in, is the added human element of those educators, professionals and others who have come to enjoy the peace and tranquility of Burgy.